When I first heard about Mad Love I instantly thought of How I met your mother, which is not a bad thing to begin with, but a huge pair of footsteps in which Mad Love has to fit in somehow, and I believe that many people beside me thought the same way So what is Mad Love all about : Mad Love is about 2 New Yorker ,Ben Parr and Kate Swanson, who fall in love on first sight , and their 2 best friends Larry Munsch and Connie Grabowski, who hate-love each other on the first sight.
Before I get to the Story of how Ben and Kate fell in love , lets do a quick look on the characters.
Ben Parr : Ben is the main character of the show and pretty much the same as Ted Mosby from HIMYM, that means he is gooey and romantic and is in search of true love, they even have the same style of clothes. To be honest Jason Biggs, the actor of Ben Parr, did not convince me in the pilot , I don't know why , but he just didn't bring it maybe it has to do with the apple pie that is stuck into my head like a bad splinter every time I see Jason Biggs , but on the other hand Josh Radnor, the actor of Ted Mosby, didn't convince me either in HIMYM's pilot, so maybe he does in the future.
Kate Swanson : The first scene with Kate in Mad Love was hilarious, and I think one of the best ways to introduce a character. Kate is also a more gooey and romantic type of person, who finally wants to find Mr. Right. Sarah Chalke is on of my favorite actresses and she did a great job in the pilot. I loved the nerd line she tossed to Ben , just adorable.
Larry Munsch: While I wrote his name down on my computer I started smiling , cause this guy is just hilarious. He is the best friend of Ben and also his work buddy. He is pretty skeptical and cynical about love. If you want a description of Larry Munsch you could say that he is more or less like Barney Stinson if you want to stick to the relation of Mad Love and HIMYM, but to be honest I would not recommend doing so, I mean yeah , their characters have some parts in common, but you could describe Larry Munsch much better as Bert Wysocki in a suit. If you don't get it , watch Reaper asap ! But as much is I loved seeing Tyler Labine playing Larry Munsch I had big concern : I really do hope that the writers of Mad Love throw some dramatic scenes towards Larry, cause it would suck somehow if Larry is just abused for the laughter.
Connie Grobowski: Connie is the best friend of Kate, and also like Larry somehow cynical and skeptical about love, but just like Larry tries to help in the fairy tale of true love between Kate and Ben, at least in the pilot. Connie is played by Judy Greer, who is just like Sarah Chalke an awesome actress, who knows what she is doing. I watched the pilot like 3 or 4 times now and I am still laughing about the dialogue she and Larry had in the bar
So that's it for the characters ,got rather long than quick, but nevertheless, let's get to the plot of the pilot, without trying spoilering to much :
I have to say, I did not like the gooey and romantic part of the pilot of Mad Love, everything was so full of half baked cliché's and one of the key-scenes between Ben and Kate did not make any sense to me after I watched it for three times ( SPOILER : I mean the thing with the hat... ), and I hope that the writers will do a better job in that in future episodes. Don't get me wrong, the love story of Ben and Kate had everything : Love on 1st sight , fireworks, a break up because of Murphy's law and a reunion,it's just that you could predict the flow of the story after just a few minutes into the pilot.
The comedy part of Mad Love was or is pretty good and I laughed a couple of times mostly because of Greer and Labine and if the writers can keep that level of comedy, I think the show will do pretty good.
In my opinion Mad Love is more than worth your time if you are into shows like that, and for the sake of two of my favorite actors , namely Sarah Chalke and Tyler Labine, I hope that this show will get at least 2 or 3 seasons. I will not give the show any kind of note or something , because I feel not qualified enough for doing so, just watch it and make your own opinion.
That's it , that's all .
